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Life (1999) is a comedy drama starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. The film was directed by Ted Demme. Others in the cast include Bernie Mac, Anthony Anderson, Miguel A. Núñez Jr. and Bokeem Woodbine. The film was released in April of 1999 and went on to gross over sixty million dollars at the box office. K-Ci & JoJo sang the theme to the movie, which was titled "Life", but it was the song "Fortunate" that garned the most attention from the soundtrack as it received several awards and nominations.
SynopsisSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Ray Gibson (Murphy) and Claude Banks (Lawrence) are two New Yorkers in 1932 from different worlds: Ray is a small time hustler and Claude has just been accepted for a job as a bank teller, trying to make something of himself. They are both at a club called Spanky's when Ray picks Claude as his mark to pick-pocket. Later they both end up in the bad graces of the club's owner Spanky. Ray is in trouble for running numbers on Spanky's territory and Claude doesn't have any money to pay for the dinner he just ate at Spanky's club. Ray arranges to have himself and Claude moonshining in order to pay off both of their debts to Spanky. They head down south from New York in order to buy a carload of Mississippi alcohol. Unfortunately, before they can get back to New York, a man that swindles Ray in card game is murdered outside of a juke joint by the town's white sheriff. Badly beaten the man happens to stumble back into Ray and Claude and they both are framed for murder. They go to trial, are convicted, and sentenced to life. True to the time period and the south, Ray and Claude, are sent to a prison camp for murders to perform hard labor. They spend the next 65 years trying to escape from prison, making new friends, and helping their own friendship grow. Ray and Claude make several attempts to escape the prison. Early into their incarceration, they simply try running away in the middle of the night, eventually getting as far as Tallahassee before being tracked down. In 1945 they meet a fellow inmate who happens to be an extremely proficient baseball player. He catches the eye of a Negro League scout who indicates he can get him out of prison to play baseball. Ray and Claude try to get the scout to put a word in for them as well, but this eventually falls through. Many years later, in 1972, Ray and Claude meet the sheriff who framed them forty years earlier. In the midst of a heated argument, the sheriff is shot dead by the prison warden, who realizes they did not commit the crime they were imprisoned for. He tells Ray and Claude he intends to write pardon papers for the two of them, but dies of a heart attack before he's able to do so. In the present day, Ray and Claude are now elderly, and living in the prison's infirmary. They realize by now that the only way they'll escape the prison is when they die. However, the infirmary catches fire, and everyone is able to get out except Claude. Knowing he's still inside, Ray goes back in to find him, when the entrance caves in behind him.
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